Spirit of Racine Race Report

I was a little concerned the sunday before the race about being overcooked from training and reluctantly followed the plan through the final week before the race. I have been watching my training stress balance on WKO+ to make sure I had at least 7 days in the positive. I went into the positive on 7/10/09 and got as high as +30 for a few days before the race. Sticking to the plan turned out to be the right decision.

Karen and I traveled to the race on Friday evening and got to sleep late. We woke up fairly early and had all day to prep for the race on the next day. No pressure, get stuff packed, go for a swim then turn the bike in. I wanted to get a 30 min bike ride in but things just didn't work out and I wound up taking a 10 min spin to make sure everything on the bike was working. We swam for about 20 min in the cold water (about 60 deg F) before I rode to get used to the water. It was a good thing cuz it was cold and I needed to know how cold.

Race Day
We got to the race in plenty of time and got set up. I forgot my helmet in the car so Karen went back to get it for me while getting ready. I kept feeling that I was forgetting something cuz I barely had anything on my towel next to my bike. All that was there was my running shoes, glasses and nutrition for the run, everything else was on my bike or on me for the swim.

The Swim
My goal was to not swallow any air that would cause me any distress later in the race so I wanted to stay away from people and wound up going a little too wide. That probably cost me about a minute but I really didn't care. The swim was short and I was into transition in about 27 minutes, 4 to 5 minutes quicker than expected but a slower than I could have gone.

The Bike
My goal on the bike was to ride between 175 and 180 watts on the flats and no more than 220 watts on any climbs, I pretty much stayed with that plan. I figured that it would take somewhere between 2:28 and 2:32 to complete the course so when I came in at 2:25 I was a little surprised.

While riding I caught a draft group in the first 10 miles and rode through them. They decided to latch onto me and passed back, after they passed they slowed down and I ran into them again so I passed through them again, this happened about 4 times until I got pissed off and decided to stay off the back. While getting passed the last time a marshal rode by and seemed to be taking numbers, I thought for sure I was going to get popped for a penalty and was kind of upset since I was just trying to get away. When I dropped to the back the group stayed together and rode away from me. I watched them for the next 5 or so miles staying together, oh well.

When I got to 28 miles I checked my average power, I was at 185 watts and was 1:12:30 into the ride. That was a little ahead of my goal on power and time but nothing to be worried about. The course was pretty flat and it was easy to sit on 180 watts for the rest of the ride.

I was having a pretty good time, holding back and eating as scheduled when around 45 miles another draft pack came by me. Again they pulled in front of me, slowed down and I passed up the to front. After one time though that I was pissed and let them go. There were a few people on the back that were riding legal and I stuck with them, They appeared to be as upset as I was. One of the guys was riding my speed so I stayed about 10 meters behind him for the rest of the race. According to the results I came in just under 2:25 so I was happy with that time and how strong I felt.

Here is the PT summary:
Duration: 2:25:28 (2:25:44)
Work: 1500 kJ
TSS: 174.2 (intensity factor 0.86)
Norm Power: 187
VI: 1.06
Pw:HR: n/a
Pa:HR: n/a
Distance: 55.678 mi
Min Max Avg
Power: 0 537 177 watts
Cadence: 48 215 90 rpm
Speed: 0 35.5 23.0 mph
Pace 1:41 0:00 2:40 min/mi
Hub Torque: 0 259 49 lb-in
Crank Torque: 0 709 169 lb-in

The Run
Always my worst event but I did my best to set myself up for a good run. I've had a goal of running 1:50 in a HIM for quite some time since my best ever runs in training at this distance have been a 1:43:xx in 2006 and a 1:45:xx this year. I started off easy to get a feel of what I had to work with and I felt good. I kept trying to keep myself in the 8:20's but the speed kept going up so I went with it but being cautious. The first lap time was 52:22...about 3 minutes ahead of schedule and I felt great.

The second lap I went a little quicker. At the turn around I had kept my nutrition exactly as planned (1 gel every 2 miles...probably more than I needed but I didn't want to bonk) and decided to give it all I thought was possible. I ran a 7:40 pace for the final 3.3 miles, much quicker than I've ever ran at that distance before. The second lap time was 51:48, a neg split by about 30 seconds for a total time of 1:44:10 and the second fastest half marathon I've ever ran.

Overall it was the very best race I've ever had. Everything went my way, 4:39:06 is 26 minutes quicker than my previous best HIM. I was 13th of 149 in my Age group and 144th of 1207 overall. The planning/training went well and execution went just about perfect. Even though the swim was a little short I'm still happy with the race and would do it again if it fits in the schedule.

Getting back to blogging

It's been a while since I've written anything of any worth. I have raced 2 oly distance races since then...Maumee Bay and Ceasar Creek. Both races I trained through and did nothing more than take it easy the day before so doing the best with the state I was in was my goal. I was happy with both races and had started a race report for Maumee Bay but I've been so busy at work with our move and have been spending my lunch time working instead of writing in my blog. I'll do my best to get them up soon.

I've also had some very big weeks getting ready for Spirit of Racine and had put down two 18 hour and one 17 hour weeks before backing off. My taper went well and followed my Endurance Nation plan exactly as written for the last 2 weeks instead of adding a lot of biking and running like the previous weeks.

I know it's been a while, I've been really busy

I came across this gem today and I had to save it.

This will help my GF understand me cuz it's exactly how I think about fruit.